But what if Jordan Binnington becomes the greatest goalie of all time? Then Eric Brewer begat something. (Binnington was the guy chosen with the 3rd rounder the Blues got from the Lightning)

But I agree with gaijin, Eric Brewer not being on this team is addition by subtraction. 0 playoff wins his entire tenure and the season after he leaves, the Blues win a playoff series for the first time in 10 years. It's not all because Eric Brewer left, but that didn't hurt.

I appreciate what Laurie did as owner by spending money and allowing good teams to be assembled. But, I'll never forgive him for what he did when he left. Checketts was annoying in how long it took him to sell the team, but Laurie gave one last "(Frank) you" on the way out the door by disassembling the team that took years to overcome.

gaijin wrote:The most beneficial thing we got in return for Eric Brewer was not having Eric Brewer on the team anymore.

I'm reminded of when we traded Eric Weinrich and IIRC we got Mojzis (a prospect at the time) AND a pick for him. Doesn't matter what the hell we got, it was more than nothing and he's not on the team anymore!!

And if you want to be super technical you could count Woywitka and Lynch's contributions to the franchise... whatever negligible amount that comes out to...

Your point is valid that teams do not get a return for retired players. But in the case of Brett Hull (and others), he was a pending free agent. The Blues knew they were not going to re-sign him, so they should have traded him for some assets rather than to let him walk away to Dallas in return for nothing.